Protecting the Growers

The bounty of legislation being written to ensure the quality and safety of food products in the United States is seemingly endless, with all sorts of sensible, predictable titling and rhetoric. There is the Food Safety and Tracking Act, the TRACE Act, the Safe Feast Act, and the recent Food Safety Enhancement Act, among a multitude of others which serve to enforce safety regulations on food processors and producers across the United States. Still, there are often many questions left unanswered with these types of legislation, such as why private firms are being hired to audit food processing plants in place of government authority, why antibiotics are still so rampantly used and loosely monitored, why pesticide use continues to increase, and why small organic farmers who produce the safest foods the natural way are still left out of so many major dialogs and considerations in agricultural legislation.

It seems as though, with the majority of agricultural measures, there is very little protection for organic producers, and to be sheltered by the USDA's organic certification umbrella is a costly endeavor that not many small farmers can easily afford. And as safety laws are becoming ever more stringent, the burden placed on small-scale organic and sustainable farmers grows heavier.

Thankfully, there are a handful of representatives who are seeking to provide provide protection for organic growers facing increasing regulatory constraints. In the new Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, a bill that will increase the power of the FDA in overseeing the food system, several senators have expressed their commitment to easing the burdens placed on sustainable agricultural practices. Jeff Merkey of Oregon, Al Franken of Minesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Michael Bennet of Colorado teamed together to write up a letter addressed to Chairman Harkin last week to help organic farmers comply with the new legislation.

And it worked! The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), which had advocated vigorously in advance of the bills passage for family farm rights, and to ease the regulations against organic farms by merging FDA efforts with the established USDA organic certification rules, responded to the unanimous passage of the bill this week with an overall positive outlook, although is still pressing the FDA to be more forthcoming about how the new regulations will impact sustainable farmers, and is urging lawmakers to include the Growing Safe Food Act to the food safety bill. The act was coined by Senator Debbie Stabenow of MI, and would require an implementation of educational programs, funding, training, and other support for farmers and food producers. NSAC vowed that they would continue to fight for the inclusion of the Safe Food Act into the bill.

The health and safety of our food should always be at the top of our legislative priority list. However, overregulation of small-scaled and sustainable farming practices is not the answer to food safety concerns. Local and organic farmers should be supported and bolstered, and the gigantic industrial food system is what should be met with equally gargantuan legislation to protect us against its profit-geared agenda that frankly lacks any true regard for safety. Hopefully the passage of this new legislation will reflect the concerns of the NSAC, small farmers, the representatives that support them, and the consumers who want to trust in an agricultural food system that is safe and healthy for everyone.